Something Inside
by Slightly Unkempt
Summary: "Look, it's not the roads we take; it's what's inside of us that make us turn out the way we do, and to me, what's inside is all that's ever mattered." There's a new group of thieves that rivals even the skill of the Hive-5, but there's something odd about this 'group' that seems to be giving the Titans a run for their money. This is an OC story. Feel free to read and review!


**Disclaimer:**** Apparently, I don't own Teen Titans or anything else. Shocker. **

**A/N: Now, then, since that elephant in the room is out of the way, I'll go ahead and say how I don't particularly like OC stories, but this story kept popping up in my mind. If you can't stand OC stories, consider yourself warned. Oh, and a very warm thank you to WhyDoYouWantToKnow for taking the time to go over this and deeming it worthy to post.**

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"Titans! GO!" Robin waved his team forward and into action.

It wouldn't be much of a fight; they all knew it. After all, it was only Control Freak's weekly routine raid of Cook's electronics store. The Titans charged towards the portly nuisance nonetheless.

Said nuisance decided in that moment to strike a 'holier-than-thou' pose – hands on hips and everything – and yell in his nasally voice, "You will not defeat me _this_ time, Titans! I-"

"Dude, you said that last week, and we _still_ kicked your butt." Beast Boy sat atop one of the several shelves of merchandise. "Just like the week before that, and the week before that, and-"

"Yeah, well, this week is different!" Control Freak's face turned a deep shade of red as he came out of his pose and pointed a new and improved remote at the changeling. "I, Control Freak, invented this new, super-mega-awesome remote in my _evil lair_ yesterday. With this I shall now be doing the butt-kicking!"

"Your Mom's basement doesn't count as an evil lair, Control Freak." Raven drawled, and the ginger's face, if possible, turned even darker. He spluttered and aimed his remote at the empath. "I don't live in my mother's basement! A-anymore, that is! I moved out weeks ago!"

Cyborg snorted and leaned against the same shelf Beast Boy was perched on. "Moved out or 'asked to leave'?" Beast Boy snickered as Control Freak spluttered even more.

"M-moved out! I am the great Control Freak! Most feared villain in all of Jump City! No one asks me to just _leave_! I leave when I want to!" He huffed and turned away. "So I went to stay with my Mee-Maw instead. Now I can stay up as late as I want."

Beast Boy and Cyborg burst out with laughter. Even Raven gave a little smirk, followed by a face-palm from the Boy Wonder. Starfire, however, looked on in confusion. She looked down at the various states of her friends and voiced her puzzled thoughts, "Please, what is a '_Mee-Maw_'?"

Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, the green changeling was the first to answer his teammate. "Hah…hah…I-it's his-" _snicker_, "granny!" He looked over at Cyborg who had momentarily stopped his laughing, but once they made eye contact both teens lost any sense of composure and began laughing again.

"You know, Control Freak, living with your _grand_mother-" Robin began.

"_Mee-Maw_!" Control Freak corrected proudly.

"Right. Living with your, er, _Mee-Maw_, isn't exactly any better than living in your Mom's basement."

Control Freak '_hmphed'_ and crossed his arms tightly over his puffed out chest. "Says you! My Mee-Maw is the _best_. She has Steel City Network!"

Cyborg scoffed. "Man, SCN is the worst! GothamTV is so much better!"

"Yeah, dude, SCN totally sucks. Their prices are ridiculous, and they don't have _any_ of the _good_ channels!" Beast Boy shook his head in disapproval. "Such a sad excuse for a couch potato… It's a shame, really…" He wiped away a fake tear and his cybernetic friend patted his back in mock-sympathy with a well added sniffle.

At this point – to no one's surprise – the 'super-villain' had started stamping his feet in anger while waving his remote around. "Shut up, shut up, shut up~!" His eyes began to water as he re-directed his 'weapon of choice' to the still snickering teens. "How dare you insult, Control Freak! You shall _pay_! Take this-"

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

All heads turned to the team leader when his communicator went off. He gave a bit of a sigh before unhooking the small device from his belt and flipping it open. "Robin here." He spoke with a small hint of irritation.

"_Robin. This is JCPD's Chief Hefner. We've just received a signal triggered by the alarm system from the Finiche Museum of Fine Art down on 7__th__.The perpetrator is still unknown, however."_ Robin nodded. "Got it. Go ahead and send some officers to take in Control Freak, we'll handle the art thief."

There was an agitated groan from the other end of the connection. "_Control Freak? Again?"_

Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes. _Again."_

Grumbling traveled through the small speaker on the communicator. Raven raised an eyebrow at hearing a few choice words and a muffled '_That's the eighteenth time this week, dammit…' _

_"Ugh. Alright. I'll send a few officers over. Hefner, out."_

The call disconnected and Robin snapped the device shut then placed it back on his utility belt. "Well, Control Freak, it's been fun, but we have more important matters to attend to." He turned to his team ready to give the orders to move out, but was interrupted by an all too familiar indigent whine. "Hey! I'm still a _threat_, you know!" The couch potato held his remote high above his head in victory before a small cough caught his attention. He looked towards Raven with a furrowed brow. She reached an arm outside of the confines of her cloak and pointed up towards the ceiling.

Control Freak tilted his head back to see Starfire floating above him with the device held tightly in her hands. She gave a small giggle coupled with a bright smile. "Wha~!" He looked between his empty hand and her, well, _not_-so-empty hand. The nerd's eyes widened and he gave a manly squeal then dove behind a shelf of movies. "Don't hurt me! Please! I have a web-cam date later! I have to look good for totaltwihard37848!" He whimpered and curled in on himself.

"It looks like you'll have to take a rain check on that_ date_ of yours." Robin shook his head and moved behind the cowering villain. He crouched down and secured a pair of hand-cuffs around the man's chubby wrists. As he stood back up he shouted out to his team, "Alright, Titans! Let's move out! JCPD will be here any minute to take him to Jump City Penitentiary."

The five teens took their leave and the all-mighty, super, wonderful, amazing, unstoppable, fearless villain called out, "They won't tell my Mee-Maw, will they!?"

**xXx**

The T-Car's wheels screeched to a halt in front of the museum's front entrance moments later allowing its passengers to step out into the street.

"Cy, fill us in." The team leader ordered.

"Just looks like a normal system hack. My sensors aren't reading off any forced entries. Must've just tripped a wire or something." Robin nodded and turned to the team's empath. "Mind getting us inside?" Raven gave a shrug before enveloping her friends in a shroud of black energy.

It barely took even a moment for the Titans to be teleported into the main show room of the museum. Once the darkness had receded back to the empath the Titans started to head into separate directions like they had before on countless missions just like this one. None of the teens got very far before a deep baritone echoed off the walls around them.

"The _hell_ was that!?" A tall and stocky man stood at the end of the show room dressed in all black with a simple black mask on. He dropped the heavy-duty canvas bag he'd been carrying as he stumbled back in disbelief.

Raven gave a sigh before looking at the thief. "My soul-self."

He tilted his head to the side in obvious confusion. "Your… soul…self…?"

"Ugh." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Does it really matter? Robin. Can we just end this and go home?"

The only response she got was a, "Titans, go!" matched with the sound of a bo-staff being extended and Cyborg's sonic canon charging.

"_Oh_. So _you_ guys are the Teen Titans… I thought the guys at the bar were just joking." The thief started to back away while keeping a sharp eye on the Titans' movements.

"Dude, are you serious? We live in a giant 'T'!"

He shrugged. "Just moved here. Hadn't really noticed yet."

Cyborg stepped forward and leveled his canon at the slowly backing away man. "Just moved here, huh? Well, allow me to let ya in on a little secret. City ain't too big on thieves. So how 'bout we make this easy – ya just drop your bag and go quietly."

The thief gave a low chuckle. "Ah, Cyborg, is it? You really think I'm _that _stupid?" He shook his head and reached into his bag. "Think again, Tin-Man." He wrenched his hand out and threw a small cylindrical tin across the floor. It clinked against the cold tile and the team's leader's masked eyes grew wide in recognition.

"Flash grenade! Cover your eyes! Now!" Robin's voice rang out through the room. In barely a seconds worth of time, the thief dove into an adjoined room as the tin burst with a tremendous bang and a flash of blinding light.

The Titans followed their leader's command while the thief gathered his bearings quickly and made for the museum's back exit that led out into a small alley. He ran down multiple hallways and practically flew down the stairs that ended in front of the double-doors at the back.

Barely a second after the thief fled from the display room, Robin flung his cape away from his masked eyes and checked on the status of his team. From what he could tell, everyone was alright and they still had their sight, and without missing a beat he gave out one more order, "Titans! Bring him down, _**now**_!"

All five teens raced towards the exit like flames were right at their heels. It had barely been a full moment before they were crashing through the metal double-doors and out into the alley.

Cyborg instantly flipped the flashlight installed into his shoulder on and flooded the narrow passage with light. He started to mutter under his breath as he moved further away from the exit; the other Titans moving close behind.

They didn't even have a chance to make it five feet from the door before a small knife came from the right opening of the alley with a sharp _thwick_ and straight into the fluorescent bulb in the flashlight above Cyborg's shoulder.  
"He's armed! Stay alert, Titans!" Robin extended his Bo staff while he pressed himself against the cold brick wall.

"Dude. He had a _flash_ _grenade_. Of course he's armed!" Beast Boy whispered harshly at his leader after he'd ducked down behind a dumpster next to Starfire. "You really think a knife is all he's got?"

Robin ground his teeth, but chose to ignore the youngest Titans' question and instead slowly moved to the right opening of the alley. It was pitch dark without the blue-tinted light coming from Cyborg's flashlight. When the light had gone out, the sudden lack of light temporarily blinded him. However, as he crept further down the alley his sight began to adjust to the darkness.

_'Unless he has night vision goggles, or something of the like, going from complete illumination to full on darkness had to affect him, too… So he won't attack right away… It'll be another moment or two before he's even _able_ to attack…' _The team's leader furrowed his brow deep in thought as he scanned his eyes across the alley.

At that moment, there was the sound of hurried yet hushed movement against solid concrete that caught Robin's attention. He tensed, ready for a fight, and whisper-yelled over his shoulder to the rest of his team. "Titans, get ready. I don't think he's Metahuman, but he's definitely different. If you see any movement whatsoever, do not hesitate to attack." Robin turned back to the direction of the noise, and raised his voice. "You won't get away. Taking down scum like you is our job, so either- _**ugh!**__"_ A gloved fist shot out from the shadow's from Robin's left and struck his jaw with a resounding crack.

The masked leader's head snapped to the side. His body moved with the momentum of the punch and landed roughly on the damp pavement. The thief leapt over the other's body and sprinted down the alley.

The other Titans overcame the shock of seeing their leader taken out with one single blow and took after the thief out of the alley and down a dimly lit side-street. Cyborg quickly raised his right arm and charged the sonic cannon. In just a few seconds, a bright blue beam of pure energy formed and blasted towards the thief.

Just as the beam was about to collide with the back of the thief, he dropped to the ground and rolled to the side. He was up in a flash and running into another street. Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven all grit their teeth as they kept up the chase.

"We have to cut him off! Now! If we don't we'll just be running after him all night." Raven yelled to her teammates. "I'll move ahead and catch him at the end of the street! Star, go in from the right, Beast Boy: take the left. Cyborg keep pushing him forward." Without another word the empath used her soul-self and teleported herself to a spot only ten feet from where she sensed the thief's presence.

Raven internally frowned at that. The thief's aura so to speak was…odd. It felt incredibly unstable. She shook herself of the uncomfortable nature of his presence and stepped out from the manifested raven she created into the street.

The thief's head snapped up upon noticing the sudden appearance of the girl. "You have _got _to be kidding me with this!" He skidded to a temporary halt, but quickly turned on his heel and continued on to his left. It was barely a moment before a green tiger leapt into his path and growled lowly in the back of its throat.

Once again he stopped, but this time, he took a moment to turn and watch Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg close in on him. He cursed under his breath while he continued to look for any slim chance of an exit.

Eventually, he turned one last time and saw a narrow alleyway leading to a nondescript door at the end. He gripped on to that chance and bolted for the alley. The thief ducked as multiple star-bolts and bursts of blue and black energy flew all around him.

He reached the door, lifted his leg towards his chest, and then kicked out at the door's handle with enough force to make his teeth rattle. The door snapped inwards with the sound of splintering wood and bending metal. The thief ran through the doorway with the Titans hot on his trail.

He ran down a short hallway and out into a wide open space spotted with tables and booths. In one corner was a low stage decorated with a stool and a lone microphone stand. In the other was a counter in front of a wall covered with espresso machines, menus, and a small refrigerator machine at the end of the wall. The thief tilted his head to the side and shrugged a bit. "Well. Always good to know where a nice café is…although this place kind of brings me down…"

A green blur sprung from the hallway and crashed into the thief's side. He gave out a cry of pain mixed with surprise as he was forced to the floor.

The other Titans ran into the large room just in time to watch the youngest Titan arc through the air and slam into one of the many wooden tables with a sickening crunch.

Starfire stopped mid-flight and gasped. "Beast Boy!"

The thief rolled to the balls of his feet and sent the remaining heroes crowded at the mouth of the hallway a challenging glare through his mask; a silent '_I dare you_'.

Without a second of hesitation, the Tamaranean took the dare.

She rose up from the hardwood flooring with a slow yet shallow intake of breath. Green energy began emitting from the palms of her hands while her eyes glazed over with the same energy that now fully enveloped her hands. Her teeth that bared in aggression began to grind as her body completely tensed in the air.

"You will _not_ hurt my friends! You will stop what you are doing or we shall stop it for you!" Starfire practically growled at the man.

He tilted his head to the side and slowly moved back towards the counter in a low crouch, but he made a point to keep a watchful eye on the cyborg and small cloaked girl flanking the still floating Titan. '_If I could just get her to aim that energy behind me_…'

He scoffed and tensed as well. "Do your worst."

Starfire's anger flared and she raised her arms above her head quickly forming an immense orb of green energy. In an instant, she pulled her arms back behind her and-

"Star, look out!"

-threw the mass just as the thief lifted a heavy chair from the floor and hurled it towards the girl's abdomen. Her attack had left her open and unsuspecting of such a quick counter-attack.

The chair made contact at the same moment that the Tamaranean's star bolt flew past the thief and collided with the espresso machine behind the counter.

_'Yes!'_

The thief dove to the side and rolled under a nearby table right as the steel machine exploded in a shower of bright orange and yellow sparks with a deafening bang. Tongues of fire licked out at the walls and ceiling and a cloud of steam, smoke, and ash filtered through the new gaping hole in the side of the building.

Starfire pushed herself up from the rubble covered floor and stared open-mouthed in the direction of the growing fire.

"Ugh…" There was a clatter from the splintered remains of tables being pushed aside sluggishly allowing the now conscious Beast Boy to slowly sit up with his hand pressed firmly to the side of his head. "What happened…? Oh, _shit_! Dude, there's a hole in the wall!" The teen's mouth hung open in shock while he stared at what was left of the far side of the building.

A swirl of dark energy materialized from the wall beside him and Raven stumbled forth with Cyborg close behind. "Where's Starfire? She alright?" The Cybernetic whipped his head around; scanning through the trashed café clouded with heavy smoke and dust.

"I-I am here!" A voice piped up off to their right and Starfire made her way to her friends. She covered her mouth to stifle the coughs erupting from her throat. "And I am unharmed. Though, regretfully, I do not know where the masked thief has gone to."

Raven, stepping forward warily, encased her hands in black energy. "He's still in here. I can sense it." That feeling of shifting instability that had stayed in the back of Raven's mind was constantly switching between a faint and strong presence. "But, something tells me he's at just as much of a disadvantage as we are with this smoke. It's hard to guess how long it'll stay this dense though."

The other Titans nodded in understanding and they each followed Raven's lead by taking tentative steps further into the café.

Aside from the crackling flames and chunks of brick _thunking_ against the hardwood flooring, the building was eerily silent. The atmosphere was tense as both parties waited for the other to make their move like some odd game of cat and mouse.

Suddenly there was the loud sound of rushing footsteps heading towards the destroyed side of the café and the Titans moved quickly to far side. The movement on both sides stirred the thick smoke and it began to lift allowing easier vision; however, with it being easier to see, it was easier to be attacked as well.

The Titans rushed to the gaping hole in time to watch the thief vault over the lowest edge of the burnt opening.

"Don't let the bastard get away!" Cyborg roared, bringing up his sonic canon charged and ready to go. Almost as if on cue, the man spun around with a gleaming pistol in hand and fired off a round of purposefully off-target warning shots at the feet of the Titans.

The five teens came to a sudden halt. Beast Boy grabbed at his hair and fumed. "He's got a gun, too!?" The thief smirked internally while he aimed the gun once more, but again, instead of taking a straight shot at the Titans, he made three shots above their heads. "Heads up!" He yelled then turned and sprinted off.

"Hey, come back here!" Beast Boy started to run after the thief, but he was stopped as the side of the building gave a large shudder before chunk after chunk broke away from the wall and crashed to the floor – one of the immense concrete masses almost hitting the green teen.

Cyborg ground his teeth and pulled the youngest Titan away with Raven and Starfire just as the wall crumbled, bringing some of the ceiling down with it.

Raven threw up a shield of dark energy to cover them from the falling debris. A frown marred her features when she could no longer sense the ever-shifting aura of this thief that caught them all off guard.

"Okay, Raven, I think we're fine. You can lower the shield." The girl nodded and pulled the dark essence back to reveal the café in total shambles.

An aggravated groan filled the air as Beast Boy dropped his head in his hands. "Dude…Robin is so going to kill us…" Not a moment after the words left the Titan's mouth, the team leader sporting a swollen cheek and busted lip slowed his running to a jog when he arrived at the scene of the destroyed café. His masked eyes narrowed as he looked at his disheveled team and the lack of an unconscious thief in their possession.

Already assuming the worst, Robin clenched his fists before he ground out. "Where's the thief?"

Averted gazes was the only reply he received for a long moment until Raven lowered her hood and looked at their leader with that frown still in place.

"He got away."

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** Well, that's all for chapter one. I have the outline for chapter two done already and in said chapter we'll be venturing further into the plot. Until then, thank you for reading, and reviewing if you did or are planning to review. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or send a review and I'll be more than willing to answer. **

** Slightly Unkempt**


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